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Pravastatin Reduces Left Ventricular Mass Independently of Lipid Lowering Effect

Pravastatin appears to reduce left ventricular mass independently of its lipid-lowering effects, possibly by reducing free radical formation.

Researchers from the National Taiwan University and Municipal Jen-Ai Hospital, in Taipei, Taiwan, treated 25 patients with total cholesterol levels of at least 240 mg/dL using pravastatin 10 or 20 mg a day. Another 25 patients with high cholesterol were not treated. The researchers also enrolled a group of control subjects with normal lipid levels.

Baseline left ventricular mass index was greater in hyperlipidemic patients compared to controls -- 125 and 107 g/m, respectively. Pravastatin reduced levels of total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, as well as increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations.

After six months of treatment with pravastatin, left ventricular mass regression correlated with inhibition of the formation of 8-iso-prostaglandin F, a marker of free radical injury. The correlation between left ventricular mass regression and 8-iso-prostaglandin F formation remained significant on multivariate analysis.

"These findings demonstrated for the first time that in addition to its primary anti-lipidemia, pravastatin may have an additional effect of reducing LV mass-independent lipid-lowering effects, possibly through attenuation of free radical formation," the authors write.
J Cardiovasc Pharmacol 2002;40:868-74. "Association of pravastatin and left ventricular mass in hypercholesterolemic patients: role of 8-iso-prostaglandin f2alpha formation."

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